Knitted hat and process for making the same



Sept. 8, 1931. E. N. JOHA KNITTED HAT AND PROCESS FOR MAKING THE SAME Filed May 28, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR W Z 7" :4 (ATTORNEY) Sept. 8, 1931. JOHA 1,822,488

KNITTED HAT AND PROCESS FOR MAKING THE SAME Filed May 28. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IIIIIIII'IflIIIII'II v w v v III VIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I wv vvwsrv vvvw v ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELMER N. J'OHA, WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN, AS SIGNOR TO RELIABLE KNITTING WORKS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN KNITTED HAT AND PROCESS FOR MAKING THE SAME Ap lication filed Kay 28,

My invention relates to improvements in knitted hats and processes of making the same.

The primary object of my invention is to provide means for manufacturing a knitted hat in' which the brim, crown and band may be formed integrally, regard being had for expedition in the manufacture .of knitted hats, reduction in the cost of manufacture,

improvement in the appearance of hats formed of knitted material, and improved retention of contour during prolonged use.

Further objects are to provide means for manufacturing hats from the same tube of I5 material which will differ in appearance,

which may be either single or double, which may have either an external roll or an external band at the base of the crown, which ma have either an open or a closed crown an when made with an open crown will require no selvage edge or sewed border along the margin of the opening.

Further objects are to providemeans for manufacturing from the same piece of knitted tubing hats'with flexible brims and wave-like margins, hats with stiffened brims afl'ording substantial resistance to fiexion, and hats with distended brims resiliently reenforced.

In the drawin s:

Figure 1 is a iagrammatic illustration of a knitted tube conforming to the usual roduct of what is known as a tubular knitting machine.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing how a section of the tube may be folded and preliminarily shaped for the manufacture of a hat in one of the styles made possible by the process.

Figure 3 is a sectlonal view showing a fragment of the hat with the crown, band, brim and exposed roll substantially in their final relative positions and as the parts appear during a brim stretching operation.

Figure 4 is a view of the hat as it appears in use, a portion of the brim being broken away to show the re-enforcing and stiffening material.

Figure 5 is assectional view of a fragment 60 of a similar hat in which the parts have been 1981. Serial No. 540,536.

inverted during the process of manufacture whereby to produce a hat with a cylindrical inner or head band and an outer flat band.

Figure 6 is a sectional view showin a fragment of a hat similar to the one s own in Fig. 4 except that it is formed with a double crown having an opening at the top closed by an inserted piece of knitted fabric separately formed- Figure 7' is a view similar to Fi 6 but with the crown portion gathered to e iminate the.

knitting on tubular knitting machines, the

type of stitch being immaterial to my invention, although in the manufacture of ordinar knitted hats by the process herein describe it will be found convenient to knit the tube in a series of alternate sections A forined with a tuck stitch and a series of intermediate sections B formed with a plain stitch, the

sections B of the tube forming connecting neck portions of somewhat reduced diameter as compared with the sections A.

In forming a hat of the type shown in Figure 4 I cut the knitted tube transversely as indicated by the dotted lines 0-11 and bb in Fig. 1 and turn the blank thus produced, providing twov members or sections A-A connected by one of the sections B and at the ends there may be half sections B, one of which will be permitted to roll up and form a cylindrical band 10 as shown in Fig. 2. The other end may be gored and gathered to form the crown 11, the cut edges of the gore-being stitched-together along curved lines leading to the top of the crown as indicated at 13.

Thereupon the connecting section B will be folded at approximately its median annular line to form the double walledband 14. The upper member A and its associated upper half ing 15 on the opposite side fromthat occupied by the band 14 and this folded portion A will be swung outwardly and secured in a horizontal position of radial extension by an inserted wire hoop 17, thereby forming a double walled brim having lower and upper walls 18 and 19 respectively. The cylindrical roll 10 will thereupon constitute an integrally knitted cord like band extending about the base of the hat crown, but, it will be left unconnected therewith until the brim members 18 and 19 have been dampened, stretched, and ironed, or if desired impregnated with suitable stiffening material. Also, if desired, a strip or annular sheet 20 of reenforcing material, preferably rubberized fabric, may be inserted between the walls 18 and 19 and the brim may then be ironed and the knitted material more or less embedded in or impregnated with the rubber and caused to adhere to the re-enforcing sheet 20 whereby the layers may be adhesively connected.

If desired the resilient ring 17 may be removed before inserting the re-enforcing material 20 and in that event the brim will normally assume the form in which it is illustrated in Figure 4, the brim having a wave like margin, whereas if the resilient ring 17 is left in place the band will be held under tension substantially in a horizontal plane extending outwardly from the lower margin of the crown.

' After the re-enforcing material has been inserted the cylindrical roll 10 may be stitched to the base of the crown by a line of stitching 22. I

It is obvious that by reversing the hat shown in Figure 4, i. e. by turning it inside out, a hat may be produced of the type illustrated in Fig. 5 in which the roll 10 will be on the inner side and the band 14 will encircle the base of the crown on the outer side. By inverting the blank substantially at the stage of manufacture illustrated in Fig. 2, the cut edges along the gore lines may be turned inwardly and stitched without additional finishing, whereas if either the hat shown in Fig. 4 or a hat made as indicated in Fig. 5 is to be worn alternatively with the cylindrical hand 10 and the flat band 14 exposed, it will of course be desirable to bind or otherwise finish the margins of the gores in order that they will present a finished appearance on both sides--as indicated in Figures 2 and 53. I g

It will sometimesbe' desirable to form a hat with a double walled crown as well as a double walled brim. In that event a blank may be cut from the tube of a length equal to that represented by' three of the sections or members A with two intermediate sections B and end half sections B, whereupon the two upper sections A may be folded one upon the other along the central line of their intermediate or connecting section B to, form a double walled crown portion 25 having a circular opening at the top mar gined by the folded portion B. A cord or resilient band 28 may be inserted between the walls of this crown portion 25 and may exert a gathering effect upon the folded margin 27 of the circular opening at the top. Thereupon the two walls may be connected at a short distance below the cord 26 by a circular line of stitching 28. The lower portion' of the hat may be formed with an inner flat band 14, and-outer cylindrical bands 10- and 36, with a brim composed of the lower section A of the blank folded upon itself as above described with reference toFigures 2 to 5 inclusive.

If desired a circular disk of knitted fabric 30 may be secured by the stitches 28 in a position to close the opening in the crown or cover the head of the wearer immediately below the opening. It may be assumed that the hat shown in Fig. 6 is made from the portion of the tube shown in Fig. 1 below the dotted line ?)b and that the two upper sections A of that portion of the tube will be disposed one upon the other when folded about the annular center line of the intermediate section B. Therefore when the blank is cut along the line b-b the half section B will tend to roll up in the form of a cylindrical integral cord, and in the fold mg of the crown forming sections AA upon each other this cylindrical cord 36 may be brought into substantial contact with the cylindrical band 1 0, similarly formed at the lower margin of the blank and brought to the base of the crown by the folding of the brmrport'ion as above described. The hat thus producedwill therefore have two cord like bands in the angle between the crown and the brim as shown in Fig. 6.

To avoid the opening at the top of the crown as shown in Fig. 6 I may produce a similar hat to that shown in Figures 3 and 4 in which a double walled crown and double cylindrical band is provided, but instead of cutting gores in the top of a crown folded as shown in Fig. 6 in order that the top portion of the crown may be gathered and stitched together. I preferably take a hat like that shown in Figure 4 and form a similar crown independently, after which I stitch 1t in position with its rolled margin {'36 superposed upon the rolled margin 10 and its gored and gathered portions superposed upon the gored and gathered portions 11 and eczema it will beunderstood that inasmuch as the brim portion is stretched and fixed in the distended position by ironing and by stifi'ening material, the folded portion A which forms the brim of the hat may present an area almost equal to that of the entire portion A before folding and 'stretchlng. Therefore portions A, of substantially equal dimensions in the tube shown in Figure 1, may be utilized to form either brim or crown portions of the desired dimensions.

' I claim:

1. The method of forming knitted hats consisting in knitting a tube continuously, severing the tube into sections, folding an intermediate portion of each section upon itself to. form a double walled band, folding one end portion of the section upon itself, and stretchin it laterally to form a brim, gathering an shaping the other end portion to form a crown and dampening and pressing 11the brim portion while stretching it latera y.

2. The method of forming knitted hats consisting in intermediately folding a tube of knitted material upon itself to form anannular double walled band, forming a cylindrical roll at one end of the tube, folding the rolled portion and adjacent portion of the tube upon itself along an annular line substantially midway between the roll and said band to form a brim portion, shaping the other end portion of the tube to form a crown, radially distending and reinforcing the brim portion, with the cylindrical roll adjacent the base of the crown,-and stitching the roll and band to the base of the crown.

3. A knitted hat having a crown and a double walled brim formed integrally and having, at the junction of the crown and brim, a double walled knitted band on one side and a knitted cylindrical band on the other side, said double walled band and knitted cylindrical band' comprising integral extensions of the respective brim walls.

4. A knitted hat having a crown and a double walled brim formed integrally and having, at the junction of the crown and brim, a double. walled knitted band on one side and a knitted cylindrical, band'on the other side, said double walled band and knitted cylindrical bandv comprising integral extensions of the respective brim walls, and the crown portion comprising an in tegral extension of one of the walls of said band. j

5. A knitted hat having crown, brim and band formed integrally from a tubular piece of knitted fabric, said. brim being double walled,1the lower wall thereof constituting an integral extension of the crown and the upper wall thereof having a terminal band at the base of the crown, the outer margin of said upper wall of said brim being integrally connected with the lower wall of .provided at their junction with a plurality of knitted cord-like bands at one side of the base of the crown and a double walled flat band of knitted material at the other side of the base of the crown, one of said cordlike bands and said flat band being formed inte rally with portions of said crown and anot er of said cord-like bands being formed integrally with a portion of said brim.

8. A knitted hat having integrally formed folded crown and brim portions, and an intermediate portion of one wall folded upon itself and constituting a double walled band at the junction of the crown and brim portions, said brim portion extending radially with its folding line at the outer margin and its inner mar in having a rolled up portion secured to the ase of said crown.

9. A lmitted hat having a crown and a double walled'brim formed integrally there with, the lower wall of said brim comprising an extension of said crown, and the upper wall of said brim having a terminal portion rolled upon itself to form a cord-like band at the junction of said crown and brim.

10. A knitted hat having integrally formed, double walled, folded crown and brim portions, the lower wall of said brim comprising an extension of one wall of said crown, and the upper wall of said brim having aterminal portion rolled upon itself to form a cord-like band at the junction of said crown and brim.

ELMER N. JOHA. 

